RSS feeds are absolutely nothing a woodchuck would like. If a woodchuck could chuck an RSS feed and get some nice Gerbera daisies instead? Yeah, then we’re talking.

So what the heck is an RSS feed? Do I have to have one? What do I do with one once I’ve got it?

This is the universal symbol for RSS. Sometimes it’s in different shapes and different sizes. If you’re super cool like moi, it’s in the shape of a PAW at the bottom of the page and also on the side looking like an old typewriter button. It can be at the top of the page, the bottom and in the location bar. They’re everywhere!!!

ahem.

Back to RSS. If you’ve ever clicked on the pretty orange button, you can sometimes be greeted by an array of error messages and blurble. Woodie, what do I do? Get thyself an RSS reader and bring me a muffin. Whole grain please. Without an RSS reader, you cannot read an RSS feed. Plain and simple. So go get one, I’ll sit here and wait. Go on, shoo.

Google RSS Reader
News Gator
Feedly

These are just a few…there’s tons, literally! Some you download to your computer, some you read online, some you can get via your mobile phone as well. Read through the benefits of each one and know what you’re looking for before you decide.

Once you’ve got your reader, you won’t have to visit all of the different blogs every day. Just go to your reader, skim the highlights, read the stuff you REALLY want to and mark as read. The next day, you get all the latest and greatest all over again. Suh-weet!

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Okay, now you can just forget you ever learned that, it’ll never come up again in your lifetime. However, you’re going to want to have an RSS feed on your WP site. Why? Because everything you write is SO fascinating, people just can’t bear to miss your site for one single day! If you have an RSS feed, they’ll be more likely to read your posts!

On WP.com, your feed is automatic. As in, you don’t have to do anything. Awesome, possum! On WP.org, you’ll need to do a little set up, by adding in your feed address.

What’s my feed address? http://yoursite.com/feed . Simple pimple.

Now you can get a bit more flashy. And it works on both WP.com and WP.org.

Feedburner.

For those of you just starting out, and not wanting to get into any fancy coding etc., go take a look at Feedburner. It’s got quite a few options that’re going to tickle your fancy.

• It counts how many subscribers you have
• It lets you set up an email subscribe list
• It lets you export your list of posts
• You can bring in photos, podcasts, iTunes

In other words, you’ll wonder how you lived without it.

On WP.com, add in the email subscription text to a TEXT side widget, click save and voila. You are instantly connected to the world. Or at least your mother.

On WP.org, you can do the same, or add in some cool buttons like mine (Easy Buttons).

But the best part? You can keep track of how many subscribers you have. =)

Got questions? I’m off to nibble on the tomato plants, but I’ll pop by and see what’s shakin’ later today!

Woodie

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

• Tweet